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Junior Derek Becker helped NYU nab a season-opening victory.
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The NYU men's basketball team proved that it can fill the void left by graduated senior John Mish — at least for now — after an 83-59 win on Sunday against the Stevens Institute of Technology in their season opener at the Coles Sports Center. Last season, Mish averaged 15.5 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game and was a First Team All-UAA selection.
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The Violets dished out 19 assists and had five players score in double digits, including senior Keith Jensen who led the Violets with 16 points.
"Certainly it says a lot about our ability when it comes to our balance," head coach Joe Nesci said.
Junior guard Derek Becker was effective in place of junior captain D.J. Glavan, who will be out for a few weeks due to an ankle infection. Becker finished with eight points, four assists and three steals, while senior guard Omar Meziab finshed with 14 points after shooting three-for-eight from behind the arc.
Junior Richie Polan, the team's lead returning scorer, was moved to the center position and sent to the bench in place of sophomore Andy Stein. Stein and Polan showed off NYU's versatility down low: Stein had two blocked shots and muscled his way down low for 12 points, and Polan grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 13 points.
"Andy and I really complement each other well," Polan said.
Freshman forward Carl Yaffe also started for the Violets. Yaffe had a strong debut, finishing with 11 points and 4 assists.
NYU jumped out to an early 18-point lead in the first half, but the Ducks crawled back, and thanks to some nifty three-point shooting, cut the halftime lead to eight points.
The second half was all NYU, after a switch to a man-on-man defense stymied the Ducks. The Violets shot an impressive 49 percent from the field for the game. Sheldon Jones led the Ducks with 17 points.
Nesci liked the way his group hustled back on defense, but believes the team has work to do on grabbing defensive boards.
In their first game without Mish, the Violets answered some questions, but will need to contend with the notion that they are playing less stiff competition in non-conference games, where they went 9-0 last year — only to finish 4-10 in the significantly tougher UAA conference.
The Violets will be back to show what they've got this Saturday at 1 p.m, when they take on Skidmore College in the first round of the NYU Tip-Off Tournament at the Coles Sports Center.
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